Florida to help Puerto Rican students earn island diplomas

Puerto Rican 11th- and 12th-graders who left the island in the wake of Hurricane Maria can likely earn their diplomas from the island, even while finishing up in Florida’s public schools, Education Commissioner Pam Stewart said Friday.

“Florida’s public schools will “provide a path for displaced Puerto Rican high school juniors and seniors to substantially complete the Puerto Rican high school curriculum and earn their Puerto Rico high school diploma,” Stewart wrote in a letter to her counterparts on the island.

Puerto Rican students who enroll in Florida’s schools — there are more than 2,500 already in Central Florida— would be free to earn a Florida high school diploma, but older students, who might have trouble meeting the state’s requirements (and passing required exams in English), would be free to pursue the new option, the letter said.

This new option would answer some district administrators’ fears about the fate of just-arrived high school students fromthe island, some of whom are not fluent in English. Local officials told state leaders earlier thismonththat theyworried older students would struggle to meet Florida graduation requirements.

The Puerto Rican diploma option would be available to students who had been in Puerto Rico’s public schools and enroll in Florida’s public schools because they were displaced by the hurricane that pounded the island in September, Stewart said.

The Florida Department of Education has already set up an online system for transferring student data fromFlorida to the island to help identify students who could pursue the new option.

It would need the Puerto Rico Department of Education’s help to identify courses offered in Florida that would be comparable with those offered in Puerto Rican schools, the letter said. And itwould need that department’s cooperation identifying when students had met the island’s diploma requirements.

Stewart sent the letter Puerto Rico’s Secretary Education JuliaKelcher.

“Florida is no stranger to hurricane relief efforts and stands ready to provide assistancewherever possible,” Stewart wrote. “I look forward to your response to these proposed steps.”

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